This year’s Winter Play, titled Wild Dust, is set in the Wild West during the 1800s. A dead body? Who are these mysterious women? A mix of both melodrama and humor? So many questions are waiting to be answered.

Wild Dust opens when a mysterious man stumbles out of the dust storm and walks into the saloon. It’s even one of director and business teacher Mr. Joe Pulio’s favorite scenes. “Everyone is running around trying to deal with the storm and the winds blowin’, that’s my favorite part,” said Pulio. 

After Pulios’ over two decade-long career in directing at LFHS, he closes with Wild Dust as a final project.

As this is Pulio’s last show, he worked very diligently to bring Wild Dust to life. He also worked with director and English teacher Ms. Sara Dreiling to make sure his vision was fulfilled. Pulio decided on Wild Dust specifically due to the humor and lighthearted-nature of the story: “I just wanted to end fun, and so this is just a fun show and I figured everyone can laugh and it makes everyone happy,” said Pulio.

After the mysterious man walks into the saloon, the women are introduced. Everyone is trapped in the saloon, waiting out the dust storm in the only brick building in town.

The saloon is filled with drama and deception, and not everyone is who they seem. As each character unravels, the storm roars outside. Turns out, the real drama here is a murder. This plot twist is nothing compared to the storm inside and outside the brothel. 

The women in the saloon have several conflicts, caught up in the hysteria around them leaving everyone extremely unnerved. As the women fight among themselves, each one reveals a different perspective. 

Pulio worked especially to make sure these actors conveyed various emotions to the audience.

“Something that I work really hard at is getting [the actors] to understand the technique of acting and the art of acting,” said Pulio. “[They’re] a lot more involved than people realize, it’s not people memorizing lines it’s about actually listening on stage and reacting.” 

 With a carefully-selected cast, tech, costuming, and set, this play will not be worth missing. Come support the hard work of all of these actors, actresses, both adult and student directors, and tech crew in Wild Dust on Feb. 2-4 at 7 p.m. in the RMA. You can buy tickets here.